Former Saints kicker Erxleben charged with fraud

AUSTIN, Texas — Federal authorities say former NFL kicker Russell Erxleben has been charged with running an illegal investment scheme that raised more than $2 million.

The Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas — Federal authorities say former NFL kicker Russell Erxleben has been charged with running an illegal investment scheme that raised more than $2 million. The U.S. attorney’s office in Austin announced Erxleben’s arrest Thursday. Erxleben is to appear before a federal magistrate judge in the afternoon. The 56-year-old Erxleben faces counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering from 2005 to 2009. According to the indictment, Erxleben lured investors into fraudulent ventures dealing in post-World War I German bonds and paintings by French artist Paul Gauguin. Erxleben was sentenced in 1999 to federal prison for an investment scam that robbed investors of $36 million. Erxleben also played at the University of Texas and holds the record for the longest field goal in UT history — 67 yards — in 1978.